Ismael de la Serna Art

Vibrant mid-century watercolor still-life of bright pink roses with petals falling on the table by Celia B. Michelena (American/Mexican, 1910-2006). Signed "Ce...

This lively city view from Vadstena was executed over two consecutive days in late October 1930. Erik Tryggelin records the scene with remarkable immediacy, capturing the fleeting at...

"The Potter" is an interior portrait of a young man working on a vase at his potter's wheel by Philadelphia born Expressionist painter Bernard Harmon. The 24.25" x 14" oil on cardboard painting is signed "Harmon" in the lower left and it is framed in a new black wood frame. Figurative expressionism in the style of Alice Neel. Bernard Harmon was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1935. Harmon was primarily a portrait painter and a well loved teacher in the Philadelphia area. A graduate of the Philadelphia Museum School and Temples Tyler School of Art, Harmon traveled extensively in Europe and South America. Beloved by many, Harmon taught in the Philadelphia School District for 32 of his 54 years of life. Beginning his career as an art teacher at West Philadelphia High School, in the early 1960s he became one of the district's artists in residence, traveling from school to school to demonstrate for students how an artist works. Returning to the classroom, Harmon joined the art department at Central High School where he taught for 14 years and became an innovator in art curriculum, developing a program offering advanced placement art classes to gifted students. In his final years Harmon became a supervisor, mentoring teachers and overseeing programs in the Philadelphia school systems District #1. During his short life Harmon taught collage preparatory art classes at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, summer classes at the University of the Arts, and a Saturday program for gifted children at Drexel University. Among Harmon's portraits were commissioned by Philadelphia Jazz organist Jimmy Smith and Mayor Richardson Dilworth. Bernard Harmon was active in promoting African American Artist throughout his life time. He organized many early shows such as the "Afro American Artists 1800 - 1969" at the Museum of the Philadelphia Civic Center in 1969. He was considered a Renaissance man by friends and colleagues for his interests not only in art but music and theater as well. He was familiar and friends with many other African American artists such as Doc Thrash, Selma Burke, Paul Keene...

Antique European impressionist oil painting. Oil on canvas. Signed. Framed. Provenance from a Sag Harbor, NY collection. Handsomely framed in period giltwood molding. Excellent cond...

A Brooding 1930s WPA Era, Modern Social Realist Industrial Scene by Famed Chicago Artist, Francis Chapin (Am. 1899-1965). Depicting a gritty nocturne view of industrial rooftops and...

Erik Tryggelin (1878–1962) Sweden Winter Shore, Vadstena, 1940–1950 signed and dated lower right E. Tryggelin inscribed Vadstena 8/12 1940–50 oil on canvas laid on masonite unframe...

A charming vintage 1950s painting of Martha's Vineyard, "Oak Bluffs, Mass." by notable Chicago artist Francis Chapin. A bustling view of the picturesque lighthouse and Soldiers Mem...

Antique American oil painting. Oil on canvas. Measuring 18 by 22 inches.

Colorful flowers fill the foreground in this large-scale watercolor still-life of a spring bouquet bursting with blossoms by California artist Royce Thyberg Gordon...

Vintage American modernist abstract landscape oil painting by Charles Courtney Curran (1861 - 1942) . Oil on canvas, lain to board. Framed. Measuring: 23 by 27 inches overall, and 18...

Antique American school modernist portrait painting. Housed in a period frame. Measuring 29 by 33 inches overall and 20 by 24 painting alone.

Vintage American modernist portrait oil painting. Measuring: 33 by 45 inches overall, and 24 by 36 painting alone. Excellent condition, ready to hang and enjoy.

"Autumn Forest" (2024) By Susie Hyer is an original handmade oil painting on Masonite that depicts a shady forest full of birch trees with bright yellow and orange leaves. There is a...

Suchitra Bhosle's "Girl with Tambourine" is an original, handmade oil painting that depicts a woman, in all white, holding a tambourine close to h...

A strong modernist oil painting depicted in 1962 by Russian painter Michael Baxte. Mostly known for his abstracted figures on canvas or street scenes, this piece is a wonderful representation of his portraits in countryside landscapes with expressive use of color, shape, and form. Later in his career, Baxte explores Expressionism, infusing both European and North American stylistic trends. Art measures 21.25 x 25.5 inches Michael Posner Baxte was born in 1890 in the small town of Staroselje Belarus, Russia. For the first half of the 19th century, it was a center of the Chabad movement of Hasidic Jews, but this group was gone by the middle of the 19th century. By the time the Baxte family immigrated to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century, the Jewish population numbered only on the hundreds. The native language of the Baxte family was Yiddish. It is likely that the death of Michael Baxte’s father triggered the family’s immigration. Three older brothers arrived in New York between 1903 and 1905. Michael and his mother, Rebecca, arrived in 1907. By 1910 Michael, his mother, and brother, Joseph, were living in New Orleans and may have spent some time on a Louisiana plantation. Around 1912, Michael Baxte returned to Europe to study the violin. In 1914 he, his mother, and Joseph moved to New York City. Meanwhile, in Algeria, a talented young woman painter, Violette Mege, was making history. For the first time, a woman won the prestigious Beaux Art competition in Algeria. At first, the awards committee denied her the prize but, with French government intervention, Mege eventually prevailed. She won again 3 years later and, in 1916, used the scholarship to visit the United States of America. When Violette came to New York, she met Baxte, who was, by then, an accomplished violinist, teacher, and composer. Baxte’s compositions were performed at the Tokyo Imperial Theater, and in 1922 he was listed in the American Jewish Yearbook as one of the prominent members of the American Jewish community. As a music teacher, he encouraged individual expression. Baxte stated, “No pupil should ever be forced into the imitation of the teacher. Art is a personal experience, and the teacher’s truest aim must be to awaken this light of personality through the patient's light of science.” By 1920 Michael Baxte and Violette Mege were living together in Manhattan. Although they claimed to be living as husband and wife, it seems that their marriage did not become official until 1928. On their “unofficial” honeymoon around 1917, in Algiers, Baxte confided to her his ambition to paint. There and later in New Mexico where the wonderful steeped sunlight approximates the coloring of Algiers, she taught him his heart’s desire. He never had any other teacher. She never had any other pupil. For ten years she devoted all her time, energy, and ambition to teaching, encouraging, inspiring him. Then in 1928, their mutual strivings were rewarded, as his works were being chosen as one of the two winners in the Dudensing National Competition for American Painters. Out of 150 artists from across the country participated in the Dudensing, and Michael Posner Baxte and, Robert Fawcett...